Page 133 - The Poetic Books - Student Text

Now let me tell you one last thing before I take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This
morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until
next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use
is a little more time.
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Chapter ten gives illustrations about how easy our best efforts can be ruined. One small dead fly can ruin
perfume, so a little folly can ruin a huge amount of wisdom. Folly is so very different than wisdom and
sticks out clearly (10:1-3). A little anger in a ruler, a fool put into a high position, or a ruler walking while
a slave rides all demonstrate the destructive power of folly. How easy it can ruin any work whether
quarrying stones or splitting logs or charming a snake (10:4-12). Foolish words destroy a person to the
extent that he can no longer find his way home (10:12-15). Feasting in the morning, laziness, and
thoughts expressed privately can all be destructive despite being small things (10:16-20).

We cannot pay attention to every detail and protect every precious aspect of life. Perfume still gets
ruined. Foolish words still ruin a person over time. The story is told about an unemployed cleaning
woman living in Saint Louis in 1984 who noticed a few bees bussing around the attic of her home. Since
there were only a few, she made no effort to deal with them. Over the summer the bees continued to fly
in and out the attic vent while the woman remained unconcerned. The whole attic became a hive, and
the ceiling of the second-floor bedroom finally caved in under the weight of hundreds of pounds of
honey and thousands of angry bees.” One fly can ruin perfume. A few bees can ruin a house.
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Chapter eleven shifts focus to advice based on the uncertainties of any part of life. Spread out your
efforts in shipping and investing and farming. You don’t know how any of these efforts will come out any
more than the rain or the wind or something as small as a tree standing in the forest or something as
significant as a baby forming in its mother’s womb. Who understands these things with certainty? You
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must try. Know that God created you, even if they have not told you how to live successfully.

215 I first received this story in an email from a friend. The illustration is anonymous and can be found at a variety of
websites. https://www.thebalance.com/1000-marbles-story-2388733 uses it to encourage people to plan for
retirement.
216 Leadership, winter, 1986, 41.
217 Oddly the word “Creator” in Hebrew is plural, literally “Creators.” Commentators dismiss the plural as making
no sense. See Longman, 264, note 10. One wonders if the writer is reminding us that he has been discussing gods
rather than Yahweh.
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